Candy Crush Saga vs Meridian 157: Chapter 1

How do Candy Crush Saga and Meridian 157: Chapter 1 compare on difficulty, ad pressure, in-app-purchase pressure and what real reviewers say? A side-by-side look, grounded in App Store data.

	Candy Crush Saga	Meridian 157: Chapter 1
Genre	Puzzle	Puzzle
Price	Free	Paid
Difficulty	hard	hard
Ad intensity	high	none
In-app-purchase pressure	high	none
Typical session	variable	long
Rating	4.7 / 5	4.7 / 5
Ratings count	3,988,014	5,209
Reviews say	What players like Addictive core match-3 gameplay with escalating difficulty Free to play with offline support Daily rewards and time-limited events for engagement Common complaints Aggressive ad placement and hard-to-close ad windows causing accidental clicks Pay-to-win mechanics with removed ad-based rewards after updates Technical bugs including crashes, freezing, and broken iPad UI	What players like Atmospheric soundtrack and sound design Logical hint system for tough puzzles Engaging mystery-driven narrative Common complaints Challenging puzzles may frustrate casual players Chapter-based structure requires multiple purchases

Candy Crush Saga — Match-3 puzzle game where you blast candies through thousands of levels while navigating aggressive monetization and intrusive ads. (rated hard difficulty, high ad pressure) Meridian 157: Chapter 1 — A creepy point-and-click puzzle adventure where you unravel the mystery of an abandoned Arctic facility as a forensic meteorologist. (rated hard difficulty, none ad pressure)

Data: Apple App Store, as of 2026-08-24. Last updated 2026-08-24.